Nine months after six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan vanished from their rural mobile home in Lansdowne Station, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, new details from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation highlight a critical discrepancy in the morning timeline: while Lily was visually observed multiple times, her younger brother Jack was only heard—not seen—before the 911 call at 10:01 a.m. on May 2, 2025.
The siblings were last independently verified together on surveillance footage from a Dollarama store in New Glasgow at 2:25 p.m. on May 1, 2025. Family statements describe a normal shopping trip with mother Malehya Brooks-Murray, her common-law partner Daniel Martell, and their one-year-old daughter Meadow. The group returned home, and the children were reportedly put to bed around 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. in their daytime clothes—Lily in a pink shirt, Jack in typical play attire.
According to affidavits and court documents reviewed in the investigation, the morning of May 2 unfolded quietly at first. Brooks-Murray reported hearing both children active in the house. Lily was seen several times in the bedroom, interacting or moving about. Jack, however, was only audibly present—his voice heard from the kitchen area as he played or made sounds consistent with his usual behavior. No family member reported visually confirming Jack’s presence that morning after he woke up.
At approximately 10:01 a.m., Brooks-Murray dialed 911, stating the children had wandered off unnoticed while she and Martell were in the bedroom tending to the infant. An immediate large-scale search launched, involving over 160 personnel, helicopters equipped with thermal imaging, drones, cadaver dogs, and divers scouring nearby lakes and rivers. Ground teams combed 8.5 kilometers of thick, swampy woods surrounding the property on Gairloch Road. Despite exhaustive efforts, no footprints trailed away from the yard, no cries were reported by neighbors, and no physical evidence of the children leaving the immediate area surfaced.
Early finds offered brief hope: a pink blanket belonging to Lily was discovered about one kilometer away near a pipeline trail, though cadaver dogs detected no scent on it. Child-sized bootprints appeared on the pipeline route, but forensic analysis could not conclusively link them to the siblings or the timeline. Neighbor accounts added intrigue—some reported hearing a vehicle moving on nearby roads around 1:30 a.m. and again at 6:30 a.m. on May 2—but no direct sightings connected to the disappearance.
The RCMP Major Crime Unit has treated the case methodically under Nova Scotia’s Missing Persons Act. Over 1,000 public tips were received, more than 8,100 video files reviewed from surrounding areas, and 75 interviews conducted. Polygraph examinations were administered to Brooks-Murray, Martell, and several family members between May and July 2025; all reportedly passed on key undisclosed questions. Polygraphs, while not admissible in court, assisted in assessing credibility and directing investigative focus.
Investigators pursued independent verification aggressively. Twelve search warrants executed between May 16 and July 16, 2025—later unsealed—targeted cellphone records, banking transactions, highway surveillance cameras monitoring vehicles leaving the province, and school bus videos to confirm timelines and movements. These steps aimed to corroborate family statements beyond self-reported accounts, given the absence of objective evidence after the Dollarama sighting.
Biological father Cody Sullivan and maternal grandmother Cindy Murray have voiced ongoing frustration and grief publicly. Cindy described the children as vibrant—Lily loving to draw and play, Jack energetic with his toys—and pleaded for continued attention to the case. Step-grandmother Janie McKenzie and other relatives cooperated with authorities, emphasizing the family’s desire for answers.
RCMP Staff Sergeant Rob McCamon has characterized the investigation as active and complex, one of the more challenging missing-children cases in recent provincial history due to the rural location, lack of witnesses, and vast searchable terrain. No suspects have been named, and the file remains classified as a missing-persons matter rather than criminal, though officials stress this could change with new evidence.
The audio-only confirmation of Jack that morning has fueled online speculation and renewed calls for scrutiny of the household timeline. True crime communities on platforms like Reddit and YouTube dissect the statements: why no visual of Jack after waking? Could sounds have been misattributed or recorded? The absence of digital footprints—tablets and smart toys showing no activity after the previous evening—adds to the puzzle.
As winter grips Pictou County, searches have paused seasonally, but the probe continues with digital forensics, tip follow-ups, and inter-agency support. The $150,000 provincial reward stands for information leading to resolution. Groups like Please Bring Me Home amplify awareness, sharing accurate descriptions and urging tips to the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit or Crime Stoppers.
Lily and Jack would now be approaching seven and five years old. Their disappearance in a sparsely populated area with no abduction evidence or runaway indicators defies easy explanation. The heard-but-not-seen detail of Jack serves as a haunting reminder of how thin the verifiable timeline became after May 1. In the quiet woods where searches once echoed, silence persists—but so does hope that one overlooked lead, one re-examined record, or one courageous tip will finally reveal what happened to two small children who vanished without a trace.